Originally Posted by tatonka

This all peeked my interest so I contacted a couple of preserves and asked for references. I tried to keep an open mind about the whole topic. It was interesting talking to these folks. I only contacted two, so the information I got was limited, but here's what I found. I talked to one fellow who was elderly who has hunted one of the preserves 5 times and is going back again this fall. He said he just can't get out and about like he used to so he thought he'd try a preserve hunt. He said he really enjoys them (obviously if he's going back for the 6th time). He said the deer act like deer you'd hunt anywhere....the older bucks do not show themselves until last light, etc. How true this is, I have no idea....I'm just sharing what I was told. He said beforehand he had a lot of reservations about doing one of these "hunts", like most of us, but decided to give it a try. He said the buck he shot last year hadn't been seen since it was released 4 years earlier. Again, I have no idea how true this is....I'm just sharing what I was told. He said he enjoys going every year and while it's not as challenging as a hunt on public land, etc., it's a lot of fun and for him at his age it's challenge enough. On the preserve he goes to the deer are released several months in advance, so they have a chance to reaclimate to the wild. How wild they become is anyone's guess, of course.

Maybe the bottom line is that killing a deer is different for different people. For some it's about the challenge and the satisfaction that they have taken a deer on public land where anyone and everyone can hunt. For others it's about putting in food plots and managing the land to produce large bucks. For some it's about getting into wilderness areas and taking a track and killing a buck. And for a few (probably very few) they find shooting a buck on a preserve enjoyable. I personally think it's about not judging anyone for the way they enjoy the deer. It's all better than sitting around watching TV, playing video games, etc. The one thing I have a problem with is outfits that charge based on the size of the critter you kill. Some preserves charge by the size and some don't. If you hunt in New Zealand for Red Stag, it's all based on the size of the stag you kill (unless you go on a free range hunt...not many people do that). Never been to New Zealand but I've looked into hunting there.. To me that's more like going shopping, but that's standard procedure in New Zealand... There are ranches in Texas that do the same thing....you pay according to the size of the buck you kill...